Making a Training Plan and Having Small, Concrete Goals
This is the dressage arena at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Now for most of us, riding in such an arena might not be on our radar, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t have your own Olympic sized goal floating around in the back of your mind. Why is this relevant you wonder? Well, in order for the best riders in the world to reach this arena, they have to put plans into place every single day. They have to be consistent and disciplined and follow a training plan that consists of small, concrete goals.
This post will dive into that process to help you create your own plan and help you to get where you want to go.
Having a Big Plan to guide the Daily Plan
By writing down your main goal or big plan, be it performance based/ fitness based etc , you can start to formulate a Training Plan of Action (to get to that goal) that will guide you on a monthly, weekly and daily basis. This Big Plan should be set sometime in the future, and it is helpful to have a time scale attached to it.
Daily Plan
Most riders have to train alone for the vast majority of the time, and it is all too easy to show up to ride, get into the arena and go through your schooling without any script. This can lead to feelings of frustration, as when you don’t have goals, it is difficult to see any progress.
Having a daily plan that consists of small, concrete goals gives your training a focus and it means you are giving your small daily steps a purpose. It also frees up your energy to concentrate on your riding.
To create your daily plan, you need to assess your current stage of training and work out the gaps between where you are now and what you need to be doing to achieve your main goal.
Making small, concrete goals
Have a think about something you have been trying to improve/change.
What has your goal been? Eg, I need to improve the trot- canter transition on the left rein. This might well be accurate, but how big is that goal? How will you know you have achieved it?
Goals are essential, but in order to use them for maximum benefit they must be:
- Achievable
- Quantifiable
So, we ask:
Can you make that goal smaller?
To make a goal more precise, we need to know what elements we are trying to improve. Be specific; Is it straightness, reaction off the aid, rider positioning etc etc.
Now my goal might be:
I am going to keep my horse straight in the trot/canter transition
Can I make that goal smaller again?
Today, I am going to do 5 trot-canter transitions that are straight
So from wanting to ‘improve the trot/canter transition’ we have now got a specific target. There is a number and certain criteria that have been set.
Hopefully you can see from this example that defining your aims into small, concrete goals will give your training much more clarity and purpose. Take a moment in the evening to analyse that days’ training. See what is working well, assess what needs to improve and then set about making some small, daily training goals.
Everybody’s goals will be different, and they should be stage of training specific. The point of this post is to help you guide your training approach so you have a clear, focused and appropriate session every time you get on your horse!